UGH THE VALLEYS
meeting training objectives set by the
squadron commander and dictated by higher
levels of command. A route is selected to
avoid certain restricted areas such as nuclear
powerplants as well as cities, towns and
airports, and always with a view to reduce
noise disturbance to the public.
The weather, concentrations of birds
and any NOTAMs (Notice to Airmen), which
provide useful information for safe ying and
navigation, are all taken into account – as
are what are generally referred to as ‘avoids’,
whereby a request can be made for military
aircraft, for a limited period, to not y over
a speci c location. Not all applications are
granted, but common ones include equestrian
and cultural events such as country shows.
In the UK, civilian airways tend to be
avoided by military fast jets which have
airspace assigned to cross them, such as
the Lich eld Corridor, which is regularly
used by these aircraft from bases in eastern
England to reach Wales and use Low Flying
Area 7 (LFA 7).
The Tornado Advanced Mission Planning
Aid (TAMPA), used by GR4 aircrew to
plan a sortie, is a PC-based system that
superimposes NOTAMs on digital maps
combined with high-level civilian airways,
contoured terrain and satellite imagery.
The 1:50,000 contoured maps are
used for target planning and route plotting
to avoid low-level obstacles and built-up
areas. Aircrew plan a sortie accurately with
TAMPA by drawing a line on a digital map.
They never use pre-planned sorties, starting
afresh every time.
Mission planning is a complicated task
as there are many aspects to consider and
often tight time constraints. An RAF Quali ed
Weapons Instructor (QWI) described the
process: “Timings to the second for waypoints
along the route and TOTs [time on targets]
need to be set. You decide what weapons are
to be put on the jet, and the fuel load, and ll
out a form for the engineers.
“The ight brief takes 30 minutes [and
covers] the plan for hitting the target, the co-
ordination with other jets [and] how we are
going to get back to the air eld. To do all this
in less than three hours is hard work.”
A more recent development is the use
of the Centralised Aviation Data Service
(CADS), a secure web-based system
developed by BAE Systems. The planned
routes of all low-level sorties are plotted
on CADS with the combined information
http://www.aviation-news.co.uk 57
often tight time constraints. An RAF Quali ed
Right: The tailored Advanced Mission
Planning Aid (AMPA) software is utilised
across the RAF’s eet of aircraft. Using
the fully integrated mission planning
software pilots can plot and print their
route with times and calculate fuel
consumption. The software comprises
highly detailed contoured maps which
show navigation warnings and NOTAMs.
Main image: A regular sight at low level in
the UK has been the Tornado GR1/4, the
RAF is due to retire the bomber on March
31 next year. All photos Philip Stevens
